One Moment in Time
by KatiKat
Summary: One moment in time can change your whole life. 6th of the Orphanage Kids series


**One Moment in Time**  
  
  
by KatiKat  
  
  
  
(Principal Noventa´s POV)  
  
  
The shot that echoed through the halls of the school caused me to jump and drop the book I was pulling out of the bookcase in my office. I let it lay where it fell and threw the door open. The children were running up and down the corridor, some were screaming. Everyone was scared to death.  
  
I stepped out in the corridor and stopped one of the students to ask him where the shot came from. The small boy was on the verge of tears as he pointed down the stairs. I let him go and ran down. Maybe it was stupid. Maybe I should have called the cops first, but I needed to check what happened. I was sure that one of the teachers who had been here longer than me and was more used to the ups and downs of a teacher´s life took care of that already.  
  
I stopped on the second floor and looked around. Everything was silent here, no one was running or screaming. It was as if everybody was frozen in their places. Some stared at the small red haired boy who was kneeling on the floor, rocking back and forth, the smoking gun at his feet. Others seemed to have made a circle around something on the other side of the corridor.  
  
I moved down the corridor slowly, checking on the boy with the gun first. He was in shock, crying and repeating over and over that he didn´t mean it. Later I found that he just wanted to show his friends his father´s gun. He just wanted to look important in their eyes. Poor boy.  
  
After making sure that he was relatively okay I made my way down the corridor, pushing through the mass of students, asking them to let me through. Finally I arrived at the edge of the small circle and looked down at what everybody was staring at. And I could feel myself growing cold.  
  
On the floor in the middle of the crowd laid two boys. I recognized them immediately. Maxwell and Yuy. The ones who caused the fight with the Chang boy on their first day here. Yuy... Heero was lying on his side, his eyes closed. He was incredibly pale, a pool of crimson blood spreading around his body. Next to him, as close as possible, the other boy - Duo - was lying. On his side, his one hand clutching the hand of his friend, while he was caressing Heero´s cheek with the other. His eyes were wide open, empty, almost void of life. He was as pale as his friend, but he seemed unharmed. I realized that he must be in shock.  
  
I dropped on my knees next to them. I swallowed dryly. I was a teacher, a principal, not a doctor. Sure I knew how to bandage a knee or splint a broken leg, but a gunshot wound... I touched Heero´s shoulder to see how bad it was. He didn´t stir or make any sound. There - the bullet went clean through his shoulder. I just hoped that it went high enough not to damage  
any vital organs. I just hoped that the paramedics would come soon because the bleeding didn´t seem to be slowing down. Oh God, so much blood...  
  
Then I heard a whisper. It was so silent that I almost missed it. I turned to Duo and saw his lips move. He seemed to be repeating the same words over and over again, his eyes fixed on his best friend. I leant closer to hear better and I could feel tears burn on the back of my eye lids.  
  
It was a silent stream of "please wake up please wake up please wake up please wake up please wake up..." and it broke my heart.  
  
-*-*-*-*-*-*-  
  
(Sister Helen´s POV)  
  
Together with Father Maxwell we rushed down the corridors of the Mercy Hospital. Principal Noventa´s call caught us coming from the noon mass. I expected to hear about another fight Heero and Duo caused. I expected anything but the news he gave us.  
  
He was in Mercy hospital. Heero had been shot and Duo was in deep shock. I swallowed painfully, forcing my tears down. Now was not the time to break down. The boys needed us now.  
  
We found Mr. Noventa sitting in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs in the small waiting room. He stood up when he spotted us. He looked disturbed, maybe he was in a bit of shock himself. The St. Michael´s school had a good reputation, nothing like that happened there in a long time, not since he became the principal and started to clean up the school.  
  
We sat next to him and he told us what happened. Some boy stole his father´s gun and brought it to school to look more important in the eyes of his friends. He didn´t want to shoot anybody, he was just showing it to his friends when it fired. And Heero, who was just coming out of his class with Duo, was just in the wrong place in the wrong time. He was hit in the shoulder and was bleeding badly when the EMT's came. And for the first time I noticed the dried blood on his white trousers. He must have been kneeling in it. I swallowed again when I felt the nausea starting to grow.  
  
To take my mind off the blood, I asked about Duo. Where was he? For a moment Mr Noventa covered his face with his hands and when he looked up he suddenly looked twenty years older. Duo went into shock seeing his friend get shot. He latched onto his hand and refused to let go when the paramedics arrived. It was as if he didn´t hear them. His grip was so strong that the paramedics just couldn´t get him loose without seriously harming him. So they sedated him.  
  
He was now resting in one of the rooms down the hall. And Heero... Heero was in surgery.  
  
-*-*-*-*-*-*-  
  
(Father Maxwell´s POV)  
  
We had been here for hours now. Since the nursing staff allowed us to visit Duo, we moved to the small private room where he was sleeping. They even brought chairs for us. It was against the hospital rules but everybody knew what happened here and they were as touched by it as we were. So for once they made an exception for us.  
  
Mr Noventa stayed with us. He wanted to wait for the surgery to end. He wanted to know how Heero was before he would take care of everything else in this case. Case... I sounded almost as impersonal as the policemen who visited us some time ago. There were even some journalists. They came to ask their questions and write about the school shooting. They didn´t bother us too long though. Nurse Matthews, an older, motherly looking woman, took care of them.  
  
Helen was crying silently, holding one of Duo´s small hands in hers. I had to swallow painfully when I looked at him. He looked so small and forlorn in the big bed. They left him dressed in his brown T-shirt with a teddybear on the front. He was so pale, dark circles under his eyes. His breathing was shallow and he didn´t even stir since we arrived here. One of the young ER  
doctors who stopped by told us that the sedative should wear off soon. I didn´t know what we would tell him when he woke up though. We still didn´t have any news about Heero. I just hoped... I prayed to God that he would spare the young lives because I knew that if Heero died, Duo would just fade away. They were so tightly bound together that they wouldn´t be able to survive on their own.  
  
Suddenly the door opened and an old, tired looking doctor stepped in. We stood up and moved closer, urgently asking about Heero. Did he survive? Will he be okay? And when he smiled - even if just a little - we felt our hearts grow lighter, our hopes rise. He gave us the most wonderful news – Heero would be okay, he survived the surgery. The wound in itself wasn´t life  
threatening. It was the blood loss that was making them still a little worried. His medical condition was still listed as serious, but it was more because of his young age than anything else. It was a major trauma for such a small body and he underwent a serious operation. But the doctor was convinced that our Heero was out of the woods.  
  
Sister Helen hugged me, sobbing with happiness and even Mr. Noventa looked a little bit too bright eyed. And for the first time in many years I cried too.  
  
-*-*-*-*-*-*-  
  
(Nurse Matthews´ POV)  
  
It was already late and my shift was ending soon. Today it was more tiring than usually. A shot kid always took its toll on everybody in the ER. And when it was an orphan too... And the other boy. They had to sedate him to get him to release his friend. They were so small, little kids. They should be sleeping in their beds now, hugging a teddybear and not to spend a night in the hospital.  
  


This was my last round and the braided boy´s room should be my last too. I convinced the priest to go home some time ago. The nun wouldn´t go, so I at least forced her to take a break and go to the cafeteria. The food wasn´t much there, but it was food at least. Her dedication to her kids was unbelievable. I knew that she would do the same for any of her kids - God  
forbid that it happened again - but I think she had a soft spot in her heart for these two boys. I heard her talking about them with such love and pride as only a mother could. It was touching.  
  
I took the card that hung beside the door of the boy´s - Duo´s room. He should wake up any time now. I just hoped that he wouldn´t be scared or panicked when he woke up in a strange place. Maybe I shouldn´t have sent the nun away. But on the other hand, the poor woman really needed a break.  
  
I opened the door, prepared to check on the boy quickly so as not to disturb him much. But then I froze. The bed was empty. I switched the light on and the harsh brightness filled the room. I checked under the bed, behind the cabinets, in the cabinets, but he just wasn´t there. He must have sneaked out when I wasn´t looking. But how did he manage to do it?  
  
Before I had the time to panic the nun returned. Her eyes grew wide seeing the empty bed, and with fear she asked about the whereabouts of her boy. When I appologized that I didn´t know, that he slipped away when I wasn´t looking and promised to start a search party for him, she just smiled. She snickered and told me that it wasn´t necessary, that she knew exactly where Duo was. I must have looked pretty confused, because she just told me to follow her.  
  
When we took the elevator and stepped out on the third floor it dawned on me. The other boy. But how would Duo know where to look for him? When I asked, the nun laughed. Duo had his ways she said.  
  
We stopped in front of the door behind which the Heero Yuy slept. Nurse Williams at the nurse station looked at us and when I waved her closer she raised her eyebrows and joined us. Silently we opened the door.  
  
The light was low but the two lumps on the bed were clearly visible. I heard Nurse Williams gasp in surprise and I felt somehow delighted that the sneaky little bastard didn´t manage to slip only by me. We moved closer to the bed to make sure that the braided boy wasn´t hurting his friend. The picture looked cute, but the patient´s health was more important. But what we saw made us smile even broader.  
  
Duo was lying on Heero´s uninjured side, curled up around his hurt friend, their heads almost touching. He was lying on the covers only in his boxers and t-shirt, his feet bare, one hand clutching Heero´s hand tightly, his other arm curled under his head. And even though he was soundly asleep, he was mumbling something to himself. And when we moved closer to find out what it was, we had to stifle a laugh.  
  
"... stup´d grow´ ups... don´ und´rst´nd anyth... hate needles..."  
  


And since the nun - Sister Helen - offered to stay and watch over them we decided to let them sleep. I don´t know if we would have even managed to separate them without whacking them both over their stubborn heads, because as we watched Heero´s hand tighten around Duo´s, I could swear a little smile settled on his lips.  
  
The End


End file.
